New probe panel soon: Khanduri

A day after the Justice Verma Commission, probing alleged irregularities during the previous Congress regime in Uttarakhand, quit, the BJP government in the state on Wednesday said a new panel would be set up soon to look into the charges.

"The new probe panel will be set up in a day or two," Chief Minister BC Khanduri told reporters in Dehradun.

He said Justice (Retd) AN Verma had expressed his inability to continue on health grounds and his resignation had been accepted.

Khanduri said the terms and references of the new Commission would be the same as that of the one-man Verma panel set up last year.

Asked why the state government did not hand over the probe to the vigilance department, the Chief Minister said he did not want to be accused of political witch-hunting.

"We want an independent inquiry," he said.

In the run-up to the assembly election in 2007, the BJP had alleged that 56 scams had taken place during the ND Tiwari regime.